High Court seeks response from the Central And State Governments for revealing the names of COVID-19 affected people

On 10 July 2020 the Bombay High Court in the case Vaishnavi Maruti Gholave and Anr. V. Union of India and Ors. , comprising of a Division Bench of Justices AA Sayed and MS Karnik issued a notice to the Central and the State Governments in the relation to a PIL filed for declaring the names the people who are infected as well as suspected of COVID -19.

The Petition is filed by a law student named Vaishnavi Gholave and Mahesh Gadekar. The Petitioner, Learned Advocate Vinod Sangvikar are of the view that the names of the people infected and suspected of COVID shall be revealed as it is against the Right to Health and contrary to the spirit of Article-2of the Indian Constitution.

Public interest and safety are superior and so the names shall be disclosed because the people who came into contact with COVID affected patients will reveal this fact and the spread of the virus can be prevented by taking appropriate precautions.

“The Petitioners state that disclosure about the communicable disease can be made in the public interest. Likewise in the case of a notifiable disease, the doctor is bound to disclose all the required information to the concerned authorities. In such cases,  the right of confidentiality enjoyed by the patient must be given away in the interest of the public good. This exception has been recognized by Clause 7.14 of the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct,  Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002”. This is the view that the Petitioners hold in this regard.

This is a way to stop the further spread of the virus and through the Petitioners approached the State Government but no progress has been done in this regard.

A special system shall be devised for disclosing the names of the people who are infected as well as suspected of the virus. The Court has directed the Centre and the State Governments to file a reply on the matter and the next date of hearing is fixed for July 24, 2020.

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